Downie, 26, was Philly’s first-round pick (29th overall) at the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, and spent two seasons with the team before being dealt to Tampa Bay during the 2008-09 campaign.

He’ll return to a Flyers club looking for a spark to snap out of its 3-8-0 start to the year. Downie will certainly bring energy and some offense — he has seven points in 11 games this year — but he’s also earned a reputation as a reckless, occasionally undisciplined player, and head coach Craig Berube has stressed a need for discipline and fewer penalties this season.

As for Talbot, he heads to Colorado after three seasons with the Flyers.

Talbot, 29, has struggled recently after scoring a career-high 19 goals in his first season in Philly — he has six goals in his last 46 games, and just one this season. That said, Berube had been using Talbot as a top-six winger in recent games and based on a statement released by Avs executive VP Joe Sakic, Colorado sounds thrilled to acquire Talbot

“Maxime is a veteran forward who has won a Stanley Cup and has a lot of NHL experience,” Sakic said. “We’re looking forward to him bringing that experience to our club.”

It’s very possible Patrick Roy wanted Talbot on the recommendation of Benoit Groulx, his former QMHJL coaching adversary. Groulx coached Talbot with the Hull Olympiques in 2002-03, the same year Talbot tore it up by scoring 46 goals and 104 points in 69 games.

From a contractual perspective, Downie carries a $2.65 million cap hit compared to Talbot’s $1.75 million, but Talbot has three years remaining on his deal whereas Downie’s an unrestricted free agent at year’s end.

interesting trade, didnt see talbot going anywhere for a few years. good deal for him, he has a chance to compete with a team thats heading in the right direction. as for downie….not looking forward to his dirtball ways 5 more times this year, he’s bound to hurt somebody again at some point and he’s tried to hurt penguins players before (crosby, sykora come to mind). he’s the only guy thats been suspended for 20 or more games TWICE and still in the league (somehow). plus he’s hurt all the time himself. fits in perfectly with the flyers broadstreet front office mentality, just dont know if thats something the flyers really need right now.

downie also is much better offensively which they clearly need and is very gritty and adds a spark which usually when the flyers play their best, ask the penguins, the penguins finally realized that half way thru last year and refuse to get in any scrums or really anything with the flyers anymore, as a result they have been pretty boring games with the penguins winning most if not all

Are philthy fans going to even try to defend this? I mean it’s bad enough you drafted this stooge Downie in the first round, but now you remind everybody of that idiocy by trading for him again? For Max Talbot no less?

Good lord, what a dumpster fire this team is. Happy for Talbot though. He must feel like he just broke out of Shawshank.

Pronger (you could argue the injury was unforeseen, but you have to realize this risk when you sign an over-35 player in the current cap system and if you don’t, you’re being negligent)

Bryzgalov (tried to fill a need, but reached way too far)

Their last 5 drafts (aside from Courtutier and *arguably* Rinaldo, there aren’t any real contributors on their current squad)

You can bust pine’s chops all you want but like it or not, he has a point. And they just traded probably one of their best character/locker room guys for a second rate thug whose contract is expiring after this year. As a Pens fan, even I’m scratching my head a bit at this one.

So you think that a 35 year old is more vulnerable to a concussion from being hit in the face with a puck than a 25 year old? If not, your point about Prongermakes no sense.

Carter/Richards – Flyers got Voracek, Couturier, Simmonds, Schenn, Grossmann (draft pick traded to Dallas) and Cousins. Every GM would make this trade every day of the week. … And don’t say Carter and Richards won the Cup because they won it as role players, not the top two guys on the team playing on the top line.

Bryz was a bad idea.

Last 5 drafts include includes multiple players who will be future Flyers… Morin, Laughton, Stolarz, Gostisbehere, Cousins, Hagg, and McGinn, plus Couturier and Rinaldo.

In regards to Pronger, no I do not think older players are more vulnerable to injuries. My point is that when you sign a 35+ year old player under the current system, when something like what happened with Pronger occurs, That money stays on your books. Now, Pronger and the Flyers are gaming the system to minimize the impact of it on the Flyers, but the fact remains that there is an inherent risk when signing players 35+ years old nowadays.

In regards to Carter/Richards, my point wasn’t to imply that they “won the Cup for LA”. My point was that they were not the problem in Philly, as Holmgren seemed to imply by dealing them. Sure, you may have gotten some picks and players for them. Lombardi, Robitaille, and Sutter won a Cup with them. You can minimize their contributions all you want, but the fact is that they contributed legitimately. Richards had like 15pts in the playoffs that year.

As for your last 5 drafts, it’s good that you think they’re GOING to contribute. My point was that none of these players are contributing NOW.

this wasnt a bad trade for the flyers, it was an interesting one but im not sure how trading a solid 4th liner like talbot who will come up and play 3rd line if need be but wont really score at all for a grittier, younger, better offensive player is so bad

there are several players on the flyers that probably deserve to be traded before talbot but most have NTCs, more brilliance from holmgren … but this trade isnt bad by a long shot

talbots 10 years of playing tough, hard minutes are starting to show, he is really nothing more than a fairly effective role player

Well Steve Downie has 7 points in 11 games. Talbot has 12 points in his last 46 games (since the start of last season)… Talbot can be replaced by Hall immediately for more than $1M less. Downie can actually play offense. Good enough defense of the trade?

also downie going 29th overall is not bad at all, its actually probably a good pick,are you familiar with how the nhl draft works? getting an everyday player like downie that plays 15-17 minutes again and scores 15-20 goals while playing gritty is a damn good pick for 29th overall, mihallik, mickelsson, and plante were the next 3 players selected … a total of 1 goal and 13 points between them

correct me if im wrong but i think when downie was in philly last time he was ordered to take anger management by the organization for being a lunatic and instead he turned it down and demanded a trade, if thats the case Downie is probably livid

It will definitely turn up the hate in the Eastern Conference, not that some of these teams needed any help. You have to imagine he gets suspended again in the next couple of months. Good pick up for Avs who look great.

don’t be deceptive. he’s averaging 7+ per game. so that’s 2PIM/game for a 14min player. that’s not that horrible, bud. he’s a 4th liner on a team that hasta crunch under Pronger’s cap hit to start the year. what do you expect?

curioustraveler13 - Oct 31, 2013 at 3:21 PM

Wait you lost me. He’s playing 7 min per game but he’s a 14 minute player? Pronger’s cap has nothing to do with this.

rinaldo hasnt averaged under 7 minutes in a season so far, rinaldo has cleaned up his game a lot, most of his penalties this year were just awful, a couple charging calls that were the farthest thing from charging but a guy got hit hard from the side somewhat near the boards so they had to come up with something

rinaldo had stretches last year where he would go 10 gms w/o a penalty that put the flyers shorthanded and had an insane stretch where he had drawn roughly 19 penalties to put the flyers on the PP to about 3 or 4 to put them shorthanded, not making that up there was actually a statistical analysis of b/c it was such an impressive stretch

but you clearly don’t understand how averages work, since you gave a range of numbers to tell us what his AVERAGE is. not to mention, your range didn’t even include some of the games you cited. why would i think you understand fractions?

why? it def sucks losing Talbot, but when’s the last time he’s been that effective on offense? it’s been at least a year. our PP blows, we plugged Downie in. our D is actually playing quite well, so we don’t necessarily need that many defensive offensemen. I don’t know your feelings on Raffl, but I didn’t like him on the top line. I think Downie comes in and at least gives that line some ability to do what they want. We squeeze under the cap to start the year, so we can afford to take on another mil of cap hit once Pronger goes on LTIR. I can’t blame Homer here. got a younger player that scores more points in a year we’re hurting on offense. It’s not the game-changer we were looking for, but I personally think it helps if he can stay healthy/unsuspended.

Love how philly is obsessed with the same type of player year in, year out as if we’re stuck in time and never left 1974-75. Idea for a “Buck Rodgers” remake: he’s a hockey player stuck in a time vortex and can never leave the team he’s on and plays the same season over and over and over…

I have mixed emotions about the trade. They’re pretty similar players but offensively the edge goes to Downie. I think Talbot has offensive potential being paired up with other offensively talented players, so it could turn out to be a wash in that regard. I guess the unanswered question is, why? Why make this trade? Maybe it really is about added depth and bringing in a guy who has won a cup and played in a lot of playoff games. Downie is fearless and that’s hard to replace.

Now I have to ask Talbot if he’ll unblock me on twitter at this years meet the team party.

Seems like a lateral move, if that, for Philly. Steve Downie is not a 20 year old with a lot of potential. He’s 26 and has arguably reached his ceiling as a forward. Avs get some playoff experience for their kids but it seems like Philly would go for picks to rebuild than for a decent, situation forward. LOL, I don’t actually think that. Ed Snider wouldn’t let any GM rebuild.

The only reason this makes any sort of sense is that Talbot was vastly underperforming offensively. Fine, but how does this help a team that is desperate to stay off the PK? Jesus Homer, is this the best you can do?

well, isnt part of that because of talbot? he’s second in sh minutes on that pk unit, now he’s gone. if thats a strength for the flyers i’ve gotta believe it just got weaker…i dont see any short handed minutes on downie’s ledger….in fact he’s the one of 2 guys on colorado with 0.00 sh toi.

hall will take talbots spot on the pk, we still have hall, read, and couturier right there which are 3 real good defensive players and then theres giroux and sometimes voracek does pk as well, im not saying its a good move but were losing a 4th liner whos a good pk guy for an player tha scores and plays 15-17 min, thats not too shabby

hall will take talbots spot on the pk, we still have hall, read, and couturier right there which are 3 real good defensive players and then theres giroux and sometimes voracek does pk as well, im not saying its a good move but were losing a 4th liner whos a good pk guy for an player tha scores and plays 15-17 min, thats not too shabby

Well there goes the Flyers new idea of being disciplined ! This guy is a loose cannon !

thesportsguru7 - Oct 31, 2013 at 3:42 PM

As a Flyers fan, this is why they suck…For the love of God, fire Paul Holmgren. The Flyers continue to add players with no skill. They add goons, and guys who are good “hockey” guys. When are they going to acquire people who have a skill set…like defensemen who can move a puck, or a forward who can actually score? The one thing the Flyers are lacking, is a GM who knows how to put a team together.

I don’t understand the hate here at all. Philly gets a top 6 forward who’s contract expires at the end of the year for a bottom 6 forward who has 3 years left on his contract. If downie doesn’t work out they can just not resign him…instead of being forced to deal with talbots contract the next two years while he is aging and declining

Thank you for bringing some logic to the situation. Teams are always searching for players with sandpaper mixed with ability, but when the Flyers get one it’s like “same old stupid Flyers, living in the 70″. I’m a huge Talbot fan, didn’t want him traded, but Downie brings more. Plus, what ppl are failing to mention is that Rinaldo or Hall can slide into the PK spot. Talbot was expendable. Downie is a lot like Steve Ott, and all teams want a player like that. Good trade for both sides, but I think the Flyers come out with more..

So you add an undisciplined, reckless, selfish player who averages one stupid penalty a game because he has “grit”. This to a team that is already reckless, undisciplined, occasionally lazy. You gonna replace Max on PK with this guy???
This is no help, possible step backwards if that’s possible. He’ll probably goon it up and get a lot of ovations for it though. Sit in the box and watch the other team score.

I like the move for the long term. Downie gone by seasons end which for a realistic flyers fan like myself will be regular season. Flyers honestly can’t keep doing the big contracts, hopefully hex tall is here to rid us of that crap.

whammy71 - Oct 31, 2013 at 11:54 PM

All this moaning over Max’s lack of offense….but doesn’t him and Fraud Gayroux have the same number of goals?